


You can’t kill something that is already dead

by AsheTarasovich (natalieashe), Boffin1710



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Angst, Catastrophic injury, Character Death, Death, Emotional Hurt, Explosions, M/M, Mission Fic, Relationship(s), Resurrection Challenge, letting go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 01:16:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14153496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natalieashe/pseuds/AsheTarasovich, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boffin1710/pseuds/Boffin1710





	1. Chapter 1

 

It was the mission from hell to begin with. Literally. In a god forsaken place of Ljubljana, Slovenia. It was as if the mission had be touched by a jinx and all that Q could think of was getting the mission completed. Brining his agent home, hopefully in one piece, and with the data he had been sent to retrieve. That would be an added bonus. Or at least the data destroyed so it couldn’t fall into anyone else’s hands.

“I need a view of the immediate area around that warehouse,” Q called out to no one in particular. However, those who it was intended for knew exactly what their job was. Q Branch ran like a well oiled machine. It was when you through in the elements of human interaction in the outer world that sometimes mission parameters became unpredictable.

“Widen the view out another block please,” and it happened. As if all the Quartermaster had to do was ask and it would happen… magic.

“Updated intel…” Q’s second in command handed him a laden file folder. “Seems someone is keeping a closer eye on the location than we first thought.” Q frowned taking the file from her, his focus never leaving the view on the monitors in front of him.

"Summary?" he asked, and R began to relay the salient points. Q nodded, still frowning at the bank of monitors and applying this new intel to what he already knew. "His extraction contact is already at the rendezvous point. Just need him to get past the last checkpoint."

"But Q...?"

Whatever R had been about to say was interrupted by a hail of automatic gunfire and two small localised explosions, the second of which destroyed the agent's intended escape vehicle. It was a moment before the smoke cleared and Q could see his agent on the ground some ten meters from his last position. Not rising. Unmoving.

"Fuck! Get Stringer moving NOW!!" Q yelled at the Q-brancher to his right, "And scramble the closest Med Evac team. We have a situation. Agent down."

Q felt movement at his elbow and knew just from the movement of air that R had been replaced by someone taller, stockier... "Quartermaster? M's instructions were to ensure that data was destroyed if it could not be retrieved. Sacrifice the agent if necessary."

"Tanner," Q responded softly, dangerously. "Please inform Medical to expect 006, condition unknown, within the next six hours. If there is any further update I will inform M directly. Now please... fuck off and let me bring my agent home."

“I need direct contact with Stringer now!” Q demanded.

“Switching contact to your headset, Quartermaster,” the response came from a workstation close by to him. “Available now.”

“Stringer. I need you to get your downed contact off the street at all costs until medivac arrives. He will have two, I repeat two flash drives in his person. It is of utmost importance that those are recovered and protected, at the expense of your contact.” The words threatened to gag and choke him but they were spoken without hesitation.

“There’s already...” the voice on the other end of the connection began.

“I don’t care. Make it happen somehow. Give the flash drives to the security detail that will arrive with the medivac. Impress on them that they are to come directly to me upon arrival. Only to me. Understood?”

“Understood. Will do my best but...”

“When you are in a secure location with or without your contact, let us know so it can be passed on the the medivac team.” Q quickly switch the contact to R to monitor and returned his focus to the downed agent... his downed agent.

“ETA on medivac?”

“15-20 minutes.”

“Unacceptable! Tell them less than 10.” Tanner began to approach him. “Fuck off Tanner.”

“M wants an update, Quartermaster.”

“When I have something to tell him, he’ll have it. Right now I’m trying to recover the data and my virus, let alone our agent.”

The entirety of Q-branch watched almost silently on the monitors as a gun battle ensued. The tech who had control of Stringer guided him towards the fallen agent, relaying the positions of the enemy fire, while Q scanned the compound and kept half an ear open for the verbal updates on the medivac's progress.

006 lay still, the central focus of Q's main screen. He found himself willing his agent to move, whilst fervently hoping he had the brains to play dead. Even the thought left a bitter taste of bile in Q's throat.

"Quartermaster! Hostile approaching 006 from the north west corner. No clear line of fire for our man."  
  
Q instantly altered the view of the CCTV. "Shite, Alec..." he breathed, then aloud "Get Stringer to circle around. Two hostiles only. Original shooter and the one approaching our agent. He takes the one on the ground out first. Immediate threat."

"Medivac 13 minutes out."

"Quartermaster... Stringer is pinned down. Not going to reach 006 in time."

Q helplessly watched the dark figure running in a crouch towards his downed agent against a background of shots. The enemy agent loomed over Alec's body, obviously searching the agent's pockets. Q's stomach churned but he managed to continue barking orders that seemed largely fruitless.

Until...

"Fucking hell!" The minion to Q's left uttered what everyone thought as the prone agent suddenly rolled and the man above him staggered with the impact of two shots to the chest. He collapsed motionless next to the agent who stared at the sky, blood pumping steadily to stain the sandy ground beneath him.

“006,” Q immediately began. “Medivac is now… 11 minutes out. Assistance approaching your position from the west. Get Stringer in position now!” Q barked orders out.

“Q…” Alec’s voice cut through the commotion surrounding him. Wet. Gurgling. Information that 006’s contact head managed now to circle around the other shooter, take him by surprise and was now closing in to assist 006 was called out to the demanding boffin.

“Lie still and save your reserves 006. Medivac will be there soon to assist. Stringer will provide was ever assistance he can until then.” Quartermaster mode asserting itself outwardly, but the sound of Alec’s gurgling gasps for breath reverberated to his core.

“Q…”

“Unacceptable 006.” Q began but a quieter “Don’t say it Alec.” Followed with only R and Tanner hearing it being close. Stringer’s voice could be heard at the scene now talking to the downed agent frantically trying to stem his bleeding.

“Flash drives. Secure them.” Q demanded and received a confirmation.

“Medivac on site.” Now could be seen rushing up to the downed agent and immediately beginning their assessment and treatment.

“Bring our agent home please.” Q closed his eyes briefly, taking deep breath before turning to find Mallory had joined Tanner in Q Branch. “I want a retrieval and clean up team in there immediately R and then that warehouse needs to disappear also. When everyone has cleared the scene notify me and I’ll deal with it.”

“Flash drives and data have been secured by our security team on the scene, M.” Q acknowledged his superior anticipating his question.

“Medivac report, Quartermaster.” R spoke loud enough so Tanner and M could hear also. “Trying to stabilise 006 on the move. Status critical.” Stepping closer to him she added “He’s asking for you Q.”

“Private channel. My office. Let’s give 006 some privacy.”

Q was proud, his voice never wavered, not giving himself away. Alone in his office however he clenched his fists to focus on something other than the trauma the medivac team was attempting to stabilise.

“Here, 006. You did well today.”

Alec gurgled a laugh that ended in a half sob of pain. “Not well... enough. So... sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for Alec” Q softened, tears pricking at his eyes. “We can talk about it when you’re back here and more comfortable.”

“No... time. Need to..”

“Please Alec. Don’t say what I know you’re thinking. It’s not the right time. We said we’d know and... Not now. It’s not now!”

“Quartermaster? We need to sedate the agent. Hurry it along.”

“Q, I...”

there was an horrific noise. More like a wounded animal and suddenly Q’s link to Alec turned to static. “No!!” Throwing his door open. “Get him back!! Now!!”

R was by his side almost instantly. “He’s still with us Q. Medivac is in the air. They’ll keep us posted.”

Q was waiting at the heliport when the medivac team returned with their patient. He trailed merely a step or two behind the gurney as they quickly made their way to Medical where he was promptly shut out of the treatment rooms protesting loudly. He was still pacing outside the doorway when M arrived with Tanner in tow.

  
“They won’t tell me a damned thing,” he practically hissed at Tanner, pacing the cold polished tiled floor trying to contain his desperation for any word about Alec’s condition. M was distracted trying to get information himself in regards to the downed agent and didn’t notice Tanner quietly telling their Quartermaster to ‘get a grip’.

  
“They have no information on 006’s status for us yet,” M stated as he approached them. “As soon as they have an update, we’ll be notified. Quartermaster, I want a full report of this incident on my desk first thing in the morning.”

"M," Q spat with a nod, earning a puzzled look from his superior before the older man walked away with Tanner trailing behind glancing back once over his shoulder.

"There will be no visiting tonight, Quartermaster." The senior nurse appeared at his elbow, guiding him gently but firmly to the exit. "He's going straight into surgery. Expected to be at least a few hours. Go home, get some rest, and we'll update your night staff if anything changes."

"I'm not leaving," Q said obstinately, but he was already beyond the department doors which locked behind him. On trying his ID card he found it was blocked.

"We'll call," she mouthed before walking away.

Unable to gain access from where he was, Q hurried back to his office, but once there he stopped only to retrieve a small USB stick and his tablet. Slipping past his almost silent night team he entered the R&D corridor, passing labs and testing areas on either side until he reached a service door. It led to the maintenance shaft for the service lift but tucked away behind the rickety metal stair was a door with a USB port instead of a keyhole. Q nibbled on his lip waiting anxiously for several minutes to see if he was followed before he slid the USB stick into place and tapped instructions on his tablet. The electronic locks disengaged and with a deep shuddering breath Q ventured inside.

 

Even though Q worked shut away throughout the night, he still monitored Alec’s status and when they sun was just breaking across the skyline of London he ventured out again. Looking haggard and strained, he stood waiting, impatiently, for the Medical staff to report the status of their double o patient.

The first urgent words and question staff asked of the Chief of Staff, who stood awaiting news that he could take back to M, was who was listed as the agent’s next of kin in his personnel files. Most definitely not a favourable sign. “I’ll need to check his file directly...”

But before Tanner could complete his sentence, Q spoke up. “I am his primary next of kin. Bond is listed as secondary,” which definitely brought a questioning eye from all within hearing, but nothing was said other than “we need to discuss 006’s status with you then.”

“Do you need verification from Tanner?”

“I’m positive if the Quartermaster states that he is next of kin, then he is correct.” Tanner added. “I hope I don’t find you altered the files overnight Quartermaster,” Tanner whispered to him as they passed through the outer doors into the depths of medical.

Q listened to them quietly whilst they described Alec’s injuries and status. He had never regained consciousness after surgery. They had done what they could for him but his prognosis was grave. Recovery would be a miracle but there was always some remote hope. Double Ohs were known to be unnaturally resilient. However at the moment life support was maintaining him.

Medical proposed a close watch and to see how his status progressed over the next few days. If any improvement could be seen, they would work through things are needed. Time would tell.

And of course it was made clear “If and when the time comes Quartermaster, as primary next of kin it will ultimately be your decision as to when we call an end to all of this if needed and allow him to pass on.”

“May I finally see him, please.” Q sighed deeply mustering all the Quartermaster he could.

“Of course. This way”

The next few days were hell. Q frantically worked throughput the nights locked away in the tunnels of MI6 knowing he was on a looming deadline. One he was constantly reminded of not only by the staff of Medical but by the silence that greeted him sitting next to Alec’s beside. It had become more and more evident that Alec would not recover and the alternatives… Q was struggling to accept.

Q was finally left alone with Alec. The room was dimmed at Q’s request and the medical staff were busy elsewhere, giving them privacy. It had been three days of no improvement. Three long days and nights of listening to the regular huff of a ventilator and the steady beep of a mechanical heartbeat. Q had been as constant as the machines, refusing to step away from his agent.

“I won’t say goodbye Alec. I can’t...”

Q choked on a half-sob, and smoothed Alec’s hair away from his brow. Alec’s normally craggy face seemed slack, lifeless already. The destruction that he hadn’t been able to recover from was hidden beneath stiff white sheets, tucked tightly around his broad chest. A chest that still rose and fell with assistance.

“They say I need to do this...”

Q’s slim fingers curled around the strong warm hand that had caressed him a few short weeks earlier. He touched the tape that secured the needle in Alec’s arm that was no longer connected to an IV.

“Forgive me.”

Q reached for the switch and the room became silent and still.


	2. Chapter 2

“Well if you know so much and can do better, Bond, feel free to jump in here anytime!”

“Q! I didn’t say you didn’t know what you were doing.” The was a long audible sigh in contrabalance to the eye roll that had been aimed at him. “All I was saying is that it’s been a long stretch in time and Alec was always difficult in so many ways”

“It will be fine.” He answered with confidence but then added “it has to be fine.” Q’s fingers hesitated over the antiquated keyboard in front of him.

“Do it Q. It’s now or never.”

“You are such a pain in the arse.” But his fingered began to swiftly move over the keyboard coding in sequences as if he was doing it by rote.

“Keep an eye on that monitor” Q instructed Bond, waving a hand at the screen that sat on a side table. “Tell me when something changes.”

Bond squinted at the scrolling data in half a dozen windows on the screen. After a few moments he gave an annoyed huff and reached into his shirt pocket and extracted his glasses, perching them on his nose. The figures were instantly clearer but made little more sense.

“You know, I can fix those for you,” Q murmured without turning around.

“No thank you.” The advances Q had made were brilliant, but Bond felt he had earned his old age, short-sight included. He concentrated on the vital signs before him. “Which is likely to change first?”

“The one to your immediate left.” Bond peered at the readings in front of him that had not wavered. “Your other left Bond! You would think after all these years... Do I need to put an R and L on your hands?”

“Shut it, you.”

“The one to the left at the top. I need to know as soon as you see any trend upwards there.”

“You know after everything,” Bond paused for a moment thinking about his own status. “I still think this is a bat shite crazy venture Q.”

Q sighed and his fingers still for a moment. “I know you did and do, James. But I did the only thing I could at the time. And admit it, even though I thought you would kill me when you found out, you weren’t ready to let go of the Russian bastard either.”

“True,” Bond conceded, “but I can’t help wondering how much of the Russian bastard will be left in there.”

Q paused once again and let his eyelids fall shut. He reviewed the data in his head again, preparing to give an evidence-backed answer, but to his frustration the human side of Alec had been impossible to quantify.

“Oh! It’s risen by 3 percent. Is that good?”

“Perfect.” Q was once again rattling keys on the ancient keyboard. In spite of his upgrades the antique technology was agonisingly slow to respond.

He turned to another, much larger screen to his right. A warm light spread across the dull silver touchscreen from Q’s fingertip illuminating the image of a man. Q flicked layers of the image away, stripping the man down to a representation of his most basic biological systems.

Bond risked a glance over his shoulder. “Well... he had a brain in that rock of a skull after all.”

Q hummed. “Just watch the bloody vitals Bond. We didn’t come this far for me to fry it now.”

Somewhere not too far away, the building itself groaned loudly. Both Bond and Q ducked instinctively. “It’s going to fall down around us, Q before we have a chance to finish. You should have done this earlier.”

“Wasn’t ready and no it won’t fall down around us. I know every beam and rivet in the old girl. She wouldn’t dare. I’ve… we’ve not waited all this time to fail.” Q scurried around him grabbing up another keyboard setting other systems into motion. “Don’t think you could move fast enough to get out before she falls, old man?” Bond ignored the snark, his attention drawn to one of the monitors.

“There’s movement on the top left monitor you told me to watch closely. Important?” Q came back to stand next to Bond shoulder to shoulder as they both peered at the readouts.

“Oh thank god. We’ve got brain activity beginning.” An extremely loud creak is fatiguing stress metal interrupted Q’s babbling.

“Come on you stubborn wanker.” Scans in monitors began to rise rapidly with them all seeming to sync at the same pace. Until one started to blip and falter.

“No! No! No! Not fucking now!” Q snarled banging on the side of a large rack of arrays and the readings synced up once more. All finally topping out at 100%.

“Q?” Bond laid a hand on his shoulder.

Q turned towards him and blinked slowly once. “Omg… it’s going to work!”

“Massage his leg like I showed you.” Q was already briskly rubbing at a muscled bare arm that had somehow retained a tan.

Bond smirked, pushed his glasses onto the top of his head and began to roughly stroke, distributing the blood substitute that now flowed in Alec’s veins. “When the wanker wakes I’ll not let him live this down.”

Q scowled, “at least you said ‘when’ instead of ‘if’.”

“Q? His toes moved. More than a twitch, a definite curl.”

Q’s scowl was gone in an instant, replaced by a triumphant grin. He laughed out loud when the man in the bed drew in a long shuddering breath into lungs that were sticky with disuse. “Cough! He needs to cough the gunk out of them.”

“Do they work?” Bond’s concern was back. Science Fiction was undeniably becoming Science Fact before his eyes but this was his friend. They’d lost him once... to do so again after coming so far...

“He doesn’t need them. They are more of a... familiarity... comfort. You know how you do still enjoy breathing.”

Everything hurt. Immensely hurt. That was the one thing that was prevalent at the moment. Everything else…. A haze, fuzzy, like way too much vodka, but he did remember one thing. Blood. Medics. Being airlifted… and trying to talk to Q. Needing to talk to Q before it was too late.

  
But now there were voices, muffled but voices, and no longer on an air flight.

  
Q.

  
That distinct poshy cadence of Q.

  
And the other… Bond.

  
Snarking and sniping at each other as usual. If he could just open his eyes, but everything felt so heavy. If he could just... They’d know he was still with them. But for how long. He needed to talk to Q. Things he needed to say.

Of course they’d be here together. James knows how this is going to play out. Q, on the other hand, will be unaccepting. He needs James to take care of Q.

“Come on you bastard! Wake up!” He could hear Q’s voice right next to him. Was he crying… laughing….

“Alec! Please. Come on.” Q’s voice was urging him “I didn’t spend all this time and funds to have this all fail now.

“Funds?” Bond was close by now also.

“Well just how did you think I accomplished all of this Bond. Wasn’t as if I could go through the Agency. Seeing as this wasn’t a sanctioned op to begin with, so black market it was. You never asked before Bond and I didn’t feel the need to tell.”

“Christ Q! They would have deactivated you.”

Alec’s eyes began to flutter open.

“Yes!” Q practically squealed.

“So dignified, Quartermaster.” Bond sighed.

Two faces blurred then focused. Two pairs of familiar eyes, one startling blue, the other mossy green. Familiar yet not. And both looking suspiciously delighted to see him.

“M’de it then,” he rasped and tried to grin but his face felt stiff and strange. “Vod’a? Cel’brate not dead.”

“It’s really him!” Q squealed again, the Instinctively ducked when the building gave an ominous groan.

At the back of the room something electrical stuttered and popped, smoke starting to curl from one of the dying machines.

“Arse! First thought in 50 years is a drink! It’s bloody Alec alright.” Bond targeted the tiny flames with a nearby extinguisher, surprised it actually emitted it’s powder. “How soon can we move him?”

“I hate to move him just yet, but it doesn’t seem as if things are really cooperating and giving us much choice in the matter.” taking a quick glance at the failing systems around them. “You’re going to have to help me with him, James.”

Q began fussing with opening panels and pushed equipment from where Alec lay, but stopped suddenly peering down into Alec’s face once more. “You’re back!” absolutely delighted as if he was surprised that it happened. “Bond, look in that storage other there. There should be some clothing that I put away for just this very time.”

“Alec, I am so sorry this is going to be veritably uncomfortable and awkward but it seems that 6 isn’t going to give you much recovering time. We’re going to need to move you.” 

Alec didn’t know if his brain was just fuddled or if something was off but some things that were going on around him didn’t seem to fall into place. Where was the medical staff? Were Q and Bond breaking him out of medical? The last thing he remembered was knowing his time had come. He was going to die. Could he have recovered enough to be moved. And why the hell was the medical equipment around him on fire?

“These?” Bond held up a pair of jeans, a shirt and jacket. There was no underwear or socks, and no sign of any footwear. Apparently the Quartermaster hadn’t thought of absolutely everything. “Christ, are these his? From 2018?”

Q glanced at the clothing dangling from Bond’s hands and grinned. “Vintage. Cost a small fortune if I bought them brand new. Help him dress while I work.”

Alec turned his head towards the snark. His eyes were clearing but what he saw made little sense. Bond approached but his gait was off.

“Hurt? You too?”

“What? Oh no. Smartarse over there will explain more once we’re out of Six. Not that there’s much left of her.” 

Bond tried to get Alec up which was turning out to be a bigger project than he thought. Alec’s movement me where slow, stiff and awkward. Q finally came over to lend a hand.

“Here,” Q handed over his own shoes to Bond. “We’re close to the same size and it won’t bother me to be without them for a tad. Best hurry James.” He added.  
Q stood in front of him placing both of Alec’s hands on his shoulders. “Use me to steady yourself.”

Alec tried to watch what Bond was doing with his clothing but Q gently pulling his chin upwards with a couple fingers. “Keep your eyes up here with me. Don’t look down. Just let James handle trying to get some clothing on you.” Besides, here wasn’t the time or place for explanations and he was sure Alec would begin to question things.

Q blinked slowly once at him and smiled. “I’ve missed you so Alec.”

Alec frowned and moved one hand to cup Q’s cool cheek. “I haven’t been anywhere. I remember... Medical and pain and trying to say...”. He watched Q blink at him again, waiting for him to continue with a broad smile on his face. Bond continued to try to wiggle shirt arms and pant legs onto Alec as Q distracted him.

“All in the past Alec. Time in the future for explanations.”

“But where are the Medical staff? Where are we now?” Alec looked around at the room which was a wreck of computer equipment.

Bond struggled to his feet stiffly. “The bowels of MI6. And the rest of the place isn’t much better than the arse end these days. He’s dressed and you owe me. Ready to go Quartermaster?” A shower of dust made him look up nervously.

“Absolutely. Lead on old man.”

Outside in the corridor Alec found himself in what resembles old sub basement tunnels of MI6 but it was all wrong… old, damp, and disintegrating. Not what he expected or what should have been. It was all wrong. That was the main thing that immediately came to his still fuddled thoughts. He stopped dead in his tracks. 

“What is this?” The fight or flight instinct of a double oh was raising its ugly head even though he was with friendly face. This was wrong. He immediately took a step backward defenses going up.

“Alec…” Q stepped in front of him. “It’s alright. Just let James and I get you out of here and then we’ll talk.” Bond stepped up next to him reaching out to lightly touch his elbow.   
“Alec. Don’t be a dick. Let’s just go and we can have that drink and chat.” Alec stared back at him. It was James, but some things were off. James seemed… weathered, older…. Something. Off in the upper levels, the building moaned and groaned again. Metal stressing against metal.   
“Alec... please. I know it’s hard, but just accept that this is the MI6 building you knew. Legoland. Vauxhall Cross. As we move upwards there may be places you recognise. Layout of the floor etc, but we are the last ones here now and...”

A screeching of metal against metal was followed by a crash that shook the very foundations. Bond pushed Alec hard in the back. “Shite, just move! I’ll tell you whatever you want to know once we’re clear!”

Q took off at a brisk trot, grinning regularly over his shoulder checking the former agents were following. Bond nudged Alec whenever he faltered, half memories of the Six he recalled looming in the skeleton of the building.

Twenty minutes later the three of them stood on Vauxhall Bridge looking back at the hulk of the part demolished SIS building. Bond leaned against the rail, cigarette in hand. Q hopped from bare foot to foot, unable to hide his broad smile. Alec simply stared…  
“Alec… time to go.” Q’s voice brought him back to reality if you could call it that.  
“But…”  
“Later Alec,” James jumped in as he shoved him towards the back seat of a vehicle that was so not their Range Rover, crawl into the driver’s seat himself.   
“James, you don’t have to…” Q commented from the other front seat  
“We are so not having this conversation again. You know I bloody hate that thing Q. I want to drive.” James interrupted him.  
“I’m just pointing out that it is…”  
“I swear to god Q, someday I will find out a way to turn you off.”  
“You wouldn’t dare!” Q huffed indignantly.   
“If I thought it would let me get the last word in a conversation, I would”  
Alec just sat in the back seat and stared. Taking everything in. This was familiar banter between his partners. Snarl. Threats. But… something. The building they were passing, so unfamiliar and yet not. But the MI6 building, what had happened there.   
The London skyline was dramatically altered, new high rise buildings piercing the cloudy sky, dwarfing the Shard. Alec’s sense of unease increased as they travelled in the opposite direction to their flat.

The sweeping curve of 1920s townhouses was unexpected. Bond pulled the almost silent car to the kerb and it settled with a gentle sigh into park.

“Home,” Q stated simply. “Let me show you around.”

Alec followed the pair over the threshold and froze. There, in the hallway, a familiar piece of art... a side table that had stood by his favourite chair... a black and white cat that was... “that’s not our cat,” he blurted out.

“Umm... yes, he is. But not...” Q blinked slowly, tried to recall the pet Alec had known in a long line of tuxedo felines. “Amelie?”

“Alright! This is enough!” Alec started loudly startling Q causing Bond to come bad into the hallway. “Explanation now!” The wrongness of all of this was unnerving him.

“Alec… it’s fine.” Q started taking a step towards until Alec pointed a finger at home.

“You talk… no!” Pointing a finger a Bond now. “You talk… he just prattles and… and… he’s… not Q… not my Q.” Alec didn’t know what else to say, couldn’t find the right words. He was still having troubles clearing his thoughts. But this was all so wrong in so many ways.

Maybe he was still unconscious. Dreaming. Maybe in a coma or maybe he was actually dead and this was some strange version of hell.

“I am not moving another step until someone talks. I was dying. Now I’m not even close. I wake up in a bloody falling apart R&D lab. What the fuck is going on? Who the bloody fuck are you?”

“I told you he was going to freak, Q” James stated calmly

“He’s fine. Not helping, James.” Q approached Alec, hands open, unthreatening. “I am Q. The Quartermaster.”

“No. No you are not. You are... your eyes. You blink to a precise pattern. The whole of London has fucking changed while I was unconscious, and James is... old!”

“Cheers, old friend.” Bond rolled his eyes, a familiar reaction when Alec was being difficult or not understanding the obvious.

“Damn!” Q uttered, clearly annoyed. “I thought I’d mastered the blinking protocol. Back to the drawing board.”

“And that! I tell you these weird observations unsettle me and you just shrug your shoulders and act like it’s all perfectly normal. How long was I unconscious, for fucks sake?”

“Alec... I’m not sure you’re ready to...”

  
“What happened to London?” Alec asked flatly, 006 slipping into agent mode. “How long?” In his head he was trying to calculate the years it would have taken to build all those massive structures. Why they would have felt the need? A war? Natural disasters? How many years?

And he felt healed? His wounds would not have healed quickly especially since he had not expected them to heal at all.

Bond looked older and there was something off in his physical presence. Q looked younger.

“50 years.” Q blurted out.

“Oh that was helpful Q. No lead up to it. No gentle explanation.” Bond sighed. “While you are mastering the blinking protocol, how about adding in some tact also.”

“What did you say? Repeat that Q!” Alec stood frozen hoping he had not heard correctly.

“You have to understand Alec,” Q began waving his hands around as if it would make it all easier to understand. “You were dying! I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t even think of losing you at the time. They wanted me to pull the plugs on you.”

“It’s a good thing I was stranded in Caracas at the time, trying to get back to home soil.” Bond interjected. “Or I might have talked him out of his crazy arse scheme.”

“I’d been working on the side project. On my own. In secret. And…” Q stopped for a moment, processing old memories that flooded upwards again. Blinking slowly, once, he finally continued.

“You fucking did it again,” Alec pointed at him a tad unnerved.

“Alec… I convinced everyone that I had already made arrangements for your body. Then when I pulled the plugs and you started to shut down, I snuck you away. Frozen you. Cryogenically frozen you. Until advancements had been made enough that I could repair you and bring you back.” The words just rushed out of Q as if the statements would suddenly make it alright once he had spoken them.

“We are still going to have a talk about just how you managed all of that Q.” Bond gave him a side glance of disapproval.

“Well I just couldn’t quite say Oh by the way, I happen to have a former MI6 spy frozen in the basement tunnels could I?” he threw right back at him and then attempted to change the subject. “You did have a lovely memorial service Alec, didn’t he James?’

“I even spoke at it and I was excellent in touting your praises I must say, even though you were always a pain in in the arse.” Bond smirked clasping his shoulder. “All I can say now though is, I am glad you are back, Alec. Finally someone else to help me put up with this little shite. You have no idea what its been like all these years with him.”

“50.... years...? Jesus fucking Christ!” Q’s attempt to sidetrack him was valiant, but he’d just been casually told half s century had passed and he was technically... “Dead? I’m dead. This is unbelievable. I’m dead?? You’re taking the piss!”

Q and Bond exchanged a glance, then each gently but firmly took an arm and guided Alec into the living room.

“Not really. Not exactly. I stopped that from happening until I could fix it. I already said that.”

Alec couldn’t bend his head around what Q - no, not his Q, a likeness - was saying. Other familiar possessions in unfamiliar locations were dotted around the room. And it all had the effect of making Alec feel he had stepped into a future in which he had no business existing.

They stopped in front of a large fireplace with a photograph on the mantle. An object of pure sentimentality in an otherwise functional space.

“Do you remember this day, Alec? James’ 46th birthday. We ate at Hawksmoor.”

“I remember it like yesterday, Q. What’s your point?”

“I celebrated my 97th two months ago.” Bond smirked at Alec. “I have a right to look bloody old, wanker.”

“But how? You aren’t...? You’re not... real. None of this can be real.”

James handed Alec a glass of vodka. He wasn’t absolutely sure Alec’s new systems could cope with alcohol but he felt his friend needed it. “Maybe parts of his brain haven’t thawed out completely, Q. He seems to have trouble grasping the simple concept that our lover is something of a mad genius with Dr Frankenstein tendencies.”

Alec swallowed the spirit without even flinching, demanding “And how the hell can you two both be so fucking nonchalant about all of this?”

“Long time to get used to it, I suppose” Q shrugged as if all of this was simply an ordinary day.

“I wasn’t at all comfortable with any of this at first Alec. Especially his transformation.” He added with a nod of his head towards his Quartermaster. “But in the long run, I wasn’t ready to give up being alive just quiet yet. And well, as far as him, he is still our Q.”

“No he isn’t. There is something….” Alec pointed a wary finger at Q again. “What the bloody hell are you talking about transformation? Fixing me. “

“We are real, Alec. Very much so. James much more so than I am, in the sense that you are speaking. But it is me. “ Q tried to reassure him. “Alright, remember the time you drugged me and kidnapped me for a holiday from work. We went to the mountains. Spent the entire weekend either in the hot tub out on the snowy deck or in bed. Remember how red in the face M had gotten when we finally came back and found out it had been you and not some terrorist group that had taken me.”

Alec scrubbed a large hand across his face trying to focus. He remember that weekend so vividly.

“Alec. It's me.”

“Q, I think we are going to have to explain more. Shown him more.” James cautioned as Q tried to take a step towards their partner who immediately stepped backwards himself.   
  
“Ok,” Q looked crestfallen. Bond had warned him about this every time they had talked if it over the last few years. Warned him that Alec may not be ecstatic to have survived in the circumstances.

“Let’s start with James. Sit down Alec, please.”

Bond had taken up a place on the sofa and patted the cushion next to him. Reluctantly Alec perched on the edge, snagging the vodka bottle on his way past. He cradled it, not entirely sure he should risk drinking it.

“Most of my work was necessary. I’m not one to let him loose on me for fun.”

“Glad to hear your sense of self-preservation didn’t desert you entirely,” Alec snarked.

“The ravages of age never bothered me. We didn’t expect to see old age, Alec. It’s a badge of honour to have failing eyesight and a bit of deafness.”

“So it was vanity? 97 with the body of a man 30 years younger.”

“No. You’re not the only one Q couldn’t stand to lose. The difference is we had an opportunity to discuss it first.” James shifted uncomfortably. Q offered his hand and the older man squeezed it. “I have cancer. Terminal, only for me it’s not, because the changes Q made keep it at bay. In some ways we’re both dead men Alec.”

Q plopped down on the floor in front of both of them. “And for me, it was only a matter of time. After you were frozen Alec, I immediately starting working on perfecting the processes. Along with some, well let’s just say some undesirable connections, I finally managed to make some huge breakthroughs. Some which have become commonplace throughout the medical world, other I have kept to myself.” Q glanced up at James smiling. “And here we are…” turning his face towards Alec, he pushed his dark curls back up away from his glasses, a familiar gesture, before slowly blinking again.

Alec quickly took a long swig from the bottle before shaking his head, “He did it again. You are not…”

“Oh yes I am Alec. I am your Q completely. But then again, I’m not. Everything that was and is Q is here.”

“He took a long extended vacation. Didn’t even tell me where he was going. You can only imagine how I panicked.” Bond jumped back in the conversation. “And when he came back, he was this. Him, but not him. Took me a long time to make the adjustment,” Bond chuckled, “but know I understand.”

“Someone had to be make sure they would be around to take care of you… both of you,” Q added.

Bond motioned for him to come closer, “I think he needs to see Q. Touch. Know that it’s going to be alright. Explain to him what you did to him.”

“Your injuries were catastrophic, but then you knew that. You tried to tell me but I couldn’t hear it. They operated, but in the end I was told to say goodbye...”

Bond squeezed Q’s hand again, encouraging him to go on. “I took you that night and began the cryogenic process, tucked away from all at 6. And you stayed there... for over 40 years.”

“Did you know?” Alec asked Bond. “What the hell did you think?”

“He told me what he’d done when I returned but he refused to tell me your location. I was furious at first, but then...” Bond looked apologetic. “You were dead. I didn’t think it mattered if you were in the ground or in a freezer. You weren’t coming back, no matter Q’s promises.”

“And when did you change your mind?”

“After the cancer diagnosis I asked him to take me to you. I think in my head I thought... would it be so bad if I joined you? I was going to die anyway.”

“It was then I told him about my plans to bring you back. Medicine had moved on. My work on SmartBlood had advanced far beyond a simple means to track and monitor agents. It could repair, mend, give increased strength, greater resistance to toxins. Instead of him giving up I asked James to be my test subject.”

“It’s the same stuff that flows in your veins now Alec.”

  
“The SmartBlood is my proprietary design. No one else knows it’s secrets or if it’s true existence. It’s too much for mankind to have control of but... here... us...” Q looked to James. “I have safe guards set.”

“What runs in your veins, runs through Q also Alec. The crazy little shite, I’ve learned throughout the years, even before all of this, would never allow anything to be used on his agents before he tested it on himself.” Bond added. He nodded to Q who moved to stand in front of Alec.

Alec was caught between cold double Oh mode and scared rabbit mode, still convinced that this was a drug induced hallucination that he hoped he would wake from soon.

“Do you want to see? Do you want to know Alec?” Q blinked slowly once more.

“If you would fucking stop that.”

  
“If I promise to work on it...? Come.” Q held out his hand and Alec rose when Bond nodded that it was ok.

Q led them to a room at the back of the house. One half of it was similar to the office Q had in their 2018 flat, the familiar technology humming quietly. The other held technology that was silent, glowing softly, and obviously far in advance of Alec’s experience. It was to this Q headed.

The same multi-layered image of a man appeared on the screen. With the touch of a finger Q manipulated so the figure stood upright.

“This is you.” The top layer Of skin disappeared with a flick of his finger. Underneath the ribs and musculature of Alec’s chest had been rebuilt around... something... “This oxygenates your blood and recycled waste gases. Basically takes over from your lungs which you no longer need.”

Alec touched his chest. Felt it rise and fall with his breath. “I’m breathing...”

Bond chuckled behind him. “I suggest you carry on. Not for you, but it really unsettles people if you stop but are still walking around.”

Q actually looked embarrassed. “There were several things I overlooked in my transformation that I hadn’t anticipated would be disturbing to James.”

Alec’s fingers toyed with the buttons on his shirt. He should look. Just unbuttoning his shirt would break this mad hallucination. No scars, no evidence of this insanity.

Bond pinched him. “You stopped breathing there for almost two minutes. I almost thought Q had switched you off.”

“What?” Alec gaped at the wild haired genius and reached for Bond’s steadying arm. “He could do that?”

“No!” Q snapped. “Of course not.”

“But I threaten him with it when he becomes particularly insufferable,” Bond stage whispered.

“Christ, this is too much!” Alec began tearing at the buttons, needing to see.

“I am no insufferable!” Q protested rolling his eyes

“I can’t believe you even said that after all these years, Q.” Bond huffed at him. “Alec! It’s alright,” Bond tried to reassure his partner as a button went flying in his haste to see himself.

“ебать это так неправильно,” Alec stammered in Russian when he finally got a look at himself. From the top of his sternum, almost halfway to his navel, was thin red scar. Another wrapped completely around his shoulder from where he could see it and continued around his back. His right arm was completely bare also, not one hair existed.

“There was significant nerve and tissue damage to your right shoulder also. Beyond repair. I know it’s your dominant arm, so it will take some adjustment.”

“What the fuck did you do... this is so not happening.” Alec was torn between anger and disbelief.

“I couldn’t lose you Alec,” Q said sadly and backed away.

“I’m trying to decide what is the hardest thing to accept. The fact i’m still alive at all? The time you claim has passed? Or what freakish things you’ve done to make me a functional person again?” Alec turned on Q, eyes blazing, whole body trembling. He flexed the right hand inspecting it for any faltering in its movement but it responded as if it were his own. “You’ve turned me into some kind of monster with alien body parts and machines. Where was your thought for my dignity? You couldn’t just let me pass?”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t selfish. If there was any chance at all... in that moment, and every moment since, I would take it. I never regretted it Alec. Not even now, with you standing in front of me so angry.”

Bond could see the situation was deteriorating quickly. “Alec, Q, stop. Both of you.” He stepped between the two emotionally charged men. “The fact you’re both so upset must surely tell you you are both still bloody human to the core. And still you!! None of this changes who you are or what you mean to the other.”

“What Q has done - what he sacrificed to be able to do it - was done for us. All three of us.”

Alec’s hands dropped to his sides. “Show me,” he said stiffly. “Show me all of it. I need to see it before I can understand.”

Q quietly pulled up another set of schematics, flipping through various screens until they were viewing simple bare muscle and bone structure, or what appeared to be some form of such. “This is James.”

“My left knee was completely shattered on a mission in Hong Kong.“ James had started to unbutton his shirt and loosening his belt. “I was going to loose my leg from mid thigh on down. Q offered. How could I say no.”

“And eventually,” Bond continued. His shirt had come off by now and he was dropped his trousers. “the shoulder wound from Skyfall that never healed correctly became an issue. Dexterity, numbness and muscles failed. There was no question as to what my options were Alec.”

Bond stood in front of him now, done to his pants. Similar scarring showed on his body also, and definitely not the body of a man the age he stated he was. While he had been paying attention to Bond, Q had moved on to another set of schematics on the monitors.

“I’m not sure...” Q hesitated, biting his lower lip, an expression so ‘Q’ it poked something in Alec. Something softer underneath his unease.

“Just do it. It can’t be any worse than this.”

Bond kicked off his trousers. Alec needed to become accustomed to his new scars if this was ever going to work. “I know this will seem shocking to you but try to remember we have made advances in medicine. Limb replacement is common for traumatic injury. Q’s SmartBlood has made so much more possible but the world isn’t ready for it’s full applications yet.”

Q sighed and turned back to his screen. His shoulders were raised with tension and Bond wavered between the two men unsure as to which needed his support more.

“This is me. Everything I have done was perfected in myself before I allowed myself to think of trying it on anyone else.”

“There was nothing wrong with you, Q.”

“No. Not in the way you mean. But I could always be better. Needed to be better for my work, my agents. For you.”

Alec moved up next to Q and then around him to get a closer look at the monitor displaying the schematics of Q’s enhancements. Things were silent in the room except for the low hum of the tech for a long time... too long.

“Alec?” Q asked hesitantly. Alec rounded on him in sheer disbelief.

“What the bloody fuck have you done Q?” Bond stepped between them pushing Q back away from Alec.

“Alec stop! You don’t know what he’s been through. He did this for us. You and me. Th little shite couldn’t face loosing us. He’s... we’ve waited forever to have you back with us.”

James turned back to Q. “Do it Q. He needs to see now if he is ever going to understand.”

Q’s slim fingers fumbled over his shirt buttons. He shrugged the fabric off his shoulders and shook his hands when the sleeves caught because he’s forgotten to loosen the cuffs. His trousers fell to his ankles and he wobbled as he tried to step free. Instinctively Alec reached out to steady him.

“Thank you.” Q blinked and waited for Alec to let go of his shoulder but Alec’s strong hand remained where it was.

“You don’t look as ravaged as James and myself.” Alec skimmed over Q’s pale skin, almost as perfect as the man he’d known intimately a few short weeks ago. Or over half a century... “Your scars are barely visible.” Alec consulted the monitor again laying his other hand... the one he was yet to be convinced was really his... over Q’s chest. “You have a heartbeat, but the schematic suggests no heart. How can you have no heart but be standing in front of me, warm, alive, breathing?”

“Does it really matter how?” James had moved up beside them, one hand on Q’s other shoulder, the other resting lightly in the small of Alec’s back. “He is our Q. And we have waited so long for this day.”


End file.
